The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said Saturday that in the upcoming J&K Assembly polls the PDP “will extend complete electoral support to the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance if it accepts the PDP’s pro-people agenda” Indian Express reported.
Mufti said her party would welcome an alliance “based on an agenda seeking a resolution of the Kashmir issue”, but not for elections and seat-sharing arrangements.
She made these statements while releasing the PDP’s poll manifesto at the party headquarters in Srinagar.
Significantly, the Congress and the NC announced their alliance for all 90 Assembly seats in J&K on Thursday, when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met the NC top brass at its president Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Srinagar.
The NC and the Congress are now engaged in discussions to finalise their seat-sharing deal while keeping the PDP out of it, mirroring their course of action in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Although these three parties are constituents of the Opposition INDIA alliance, the NC and the PDP remain staunch opponents on the ground in the Valley.
At her party event, Mufti said, “The resolution of Kashmir issue is our top priority. If the Congress and the National Conference accept this, we will ask them to contest all seats and back them completely. For me, resolution of the Kashmir problem is much more important than anything else. The dignity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is more important than the number of seats we contest.”
Referring to the PDP’s alliance with the BJP after the 2014 Assembly elections, she said when the party had formed that alliance, “it was on our agenda”.
She claimed that the NC-Congress alliance is not based on a common agenda but merely on seat-sharing. “We will not discuss any such alliance only for seats. Our alliance should be based on an agenda, which is Jammu Kashmir ki samasya ka samadhaan (resolution of the J&K issue) under the provisions of the Constitution.”
Mufti also ruled out the possibility of her party’s tie-up with the BJP in future.
Terming the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019 by the BJP-ruled Centre as “unconstitutional and illegal”, the PDP manifesto states that the party is “resolute in its pursuit of restoring the constitutional guarantees that were unjustly scrapped, and is committed to restoring Jammu & Kashmir to its original status.”
Among the party’s key poll promises are advocacy for diplomatic initiatives between India and Pakistan, “emphasising conflict resolution, confidence-building measures, and regional cooperation”. The party pledges full connectivity across the LoC for trade and social exchange as well as opening of old traditional trade routes to central and south Asia through J&K.
The PDP’s manifesto also seeks revocation of the Public Safety Act (PSA), Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and Enemy Act “to put an end to unjust arrests of political and social activists, journalists, civil society and concerned citizens”. The party has reiterated its “commitment” to ensuring the revocation of the AFSPA.
The protection of land and employment of the J&K people alongside reviewing cases of “unjust” job terminations to ensure fair treatment and job security for all employees, are listed in the manifesto among the PDP’s priorities if voted to power.
Besides, like the NC, the party has promised 200 units of free electricity and 12 free LPG cylinders per year for the economically weaker section (EWS) households. The party also seeks to provide first right to locals in all government tenders and revisiting mining contracts with special preference to locals with a view to “preserve local resources for the people of J&K”.
The transfer of hydro power projects to J&K, disturbed area allowance for J&K Police and restoring the old pension schemes also form part of the PDP’s poll document.
Mufti said that these elections are not about “statehood or seat-sharing” for the party. “We have a bigger goal, which is the to resolve the difficulties that the people have been facing over the last 77 years. We are fighting for our dignity.”
Last Monday, the NC released its poll manifesto in which the party has promised the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A as well as the repeal of the PSA among its 12 guarantees given to the people of the Union Territory (UT).
The J&K elections will be held in three phases – on September 18, September 25 and October 1 – with the counting of votes scheduled for October 4.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, the PDP got 28 seats with 22.67 votes, while the BJP won 25 seats with a 22.98% vote share. The NC secured 15 seats with 20.77% votes, while the Congress won 12 seats with 18.01% votes in the then state.
The hung poll verdict led to the PDP-BJP forming a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. After Sayeed’s demise in 2016, Mehbooba Mufti took over the reins of the coalition regime, but the BJP withdrew its support to the government in June 2018 following which J&K has been under the Central rule.
On August 5, 2019, Article 370, which granted special status to J&K, was abrogated, and the state split in two UTs, J&K and Ladakh.
The 2024 Lok Sabha polls in J&K’s five seats saw the BJP and NC each win two seats, with one seat going to an Independent, jailed leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid popularly known as Engineer Rashid. The vote shares stood at 24.36% for the BJP, 22.3% for the NC, 19.38% for the Congress, and 8.48% for the PDP Indian Express reported.
